Abba John the Dwarf said, ‘A house is not built by beginning at the top and working down. You must begin with the foundations in order to reach the top.’ They said to him,’ What does this saying mean?’ He said, ‘The foundation is our neighbor, whom we must trust, and that is the place to begin. For all the commandments of Christ depend on this one.’

—-Abba John the Dwarf

This saying is based on the biblical record of a conversation that occurred between Jesus and a lawyer. He ask Him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself..” The fascinating thing about the wisdom of the monk is that he tells us to begin with something we can see. As much as we would all desire, we can’t see God in the flesh. The key to experiencing God is understanding the depth of His love. God loves us at our worst and we are challenged to love our neighbors at their worst.

All too often we go for what is easy, and the foundation of our spiritual house is sinking sand. The love of neighbor is the key to understanding of the nature of God. He is a loving and understanding creator, and not a cruel and harsh master. With a heart of compassion and mercy, He welcomes sinners into His kingdom. They don’t not get the “cheap seats,” but receive a regal welcome. The beginning of that journey is to see God in His creation. Trusting His creation is trusting Him.

Prayer

Lord help me to grasp this most difficult teaching of loving my neighbor. All too often our neighbors are those who hurt us the most. Allow your grace and my understanding of your love to rise to a level that allows this love to flow from me. In the act of such love we find an elusive peace that brings us closer to you.

7 responses to “Love of God”

You write “we can’t see God in the flesh” which is true because God has no flesh, bones or blood, because God is Spirit and God cannot be seen by man. But you seem to believe that Jesus is God which is contradicting the sayings of Jesus and those of his heavenly Father, Who does not tell lies and said that Jesus is His (God’s) only begotten beloved son.

But when they are one and the same did Jesus not lie saying the Father is greater than him and that he could not do anything without God, plus even worse that he did not know when he would be coming back and who would be seated next to him in a kingdom that he was going to hand over to his heavenly Father, which than would be a fake action like his death, his resurrection and his swapping seats sitting on his throne and than standing next to it doing as if the other one is God?

Jesus in our belief system is the Kristos or Christ, the sent one from God, son of man and only begotten beloved son of God and not a god son, but the Messiah who was born (God has no birth), seen by many (man cannot see God and live), tempted more than once (God cannot be tempted), was imprisoned, tortured and killed by man (though man can do nothing against God and God cannot die), was taken out of the dead after three days in hell (what would God have to look for in hell?) and made higher than angels (= was 1st lower than angels, though God was, is and always shall be the Most High) and like Jesus himself told that he is lower than God Who is the Greatest of all. for us Jesus, is as written in the Bible, the infallible Word of God, the Way to God and to (eternal) life.

I have visited your site and now I understand where you are going with this conversation. That being said, I still maintain my beliefs as a Triniatarian Christian. The arguments you set forth were discussed in the foundational period of Christianity. Thank you for sharing these beliefs with me. May God bless you work.